April 03, 2025
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Hart, Rand leading race Yorkville 115 school board seats, according to unofficial results

Knoll: ‘I was going up against the machine and against Lauren Underwood’

By Joey Weslo
Candidates for Yorkville 115 Board of Education pitched their platforms at a community forum on Feb. 27 at Congregational United Church of Christ in Yorkville. Pictured, Joseph Rand (far left), Julie Hart, incumbent Michael Knoll, Molly Gerke, and Jeanette Norman (far right.)

Candidates for Yorkville 115 Board of Education pitched their platforms at a community forum at Congregational United Church of Christ in Yorkville. (From left) Joseph Rand, Julie Hart, incumbent Michael Knoll, Molly Gerke, and Jeanette Norman. Both Rand and Hart are poised to take seats on the board. (Joey Weslo)

With all precincts in, newcomers Joseph Rand and Julie Hart are looking at their first terms for the Yorkville School District 115 school board, according to unofficial results for the April 1 Consolidated election.

The candidates ran for the two seats in a field of five candidates that also included incumbent Michael Knoll, Molly Gerke, and Jeannette Norman.

Both incumbent Leslie Smogor and incumbent Shawn Schumacher were reelected after running unopposed for their Bristol township seats.

Unofficial results from the Kendall County Clerk’s Office have Hart 2,093 votes and Rand 1,984.

Knoll trailed with 1,559 votes, followed by Gerke with 1,226, and Norman with 491 votes.

Following the election, Rand said with his six years serving as the music booster president, he developed a passion working with the students and teachers.

“I’m excited now for a chance to reach more kids a to be a steward for all of them, in addition to the music community,” Rand said. “I think what resonated with the voters is making kids and teachers the first priority and trying to keep the politics out of it. After the last election with the large board turnover, the community realized if they want the people they want on the board, they have to go out and vote. My goal was to reach people and get the awareness out there.”

Hart said she is ready to prioritize providing the students a decent place to learn while helping the district navigate the federal funding freezes and the issues resulting from large population growth in the Yorkville community.

“We didn’t concentrate on bringing up the issue with the removal of ‘Just Mercy’ from the curriculum, but the community wasn’t going to let it rest,” Hart said. “The election two years ago, along with the book issue, was a wake up call to a lot of people in the community, myself included. With that kind of turnover on the board and losing the superintendent, so many took notice.”

Knoll expressed disappointment with losing his seat on the board.

“I was going up against the machine and against Lauren Underwood,” Knoll said. “We got beat by the machine.”

Hart said she didn’t completely comprehend what Knoll was talking about.

“I have to disagree with him,” Hart said. “He didn’t lose because Underwood endorsed us. I do think removing the book from the curriculum two years ago really resonated with a lot of people. You did it once. What were you going to do the next time? There was no big machine money at all.”